Setting up Railmaster on Android Acer Tablet?

[Grievous1976]

Having recently purchased a new Acer Android tablet and following instructions to get Railmaster up and running

its a bit confusing to say the least. I have the latest Android Firmware 4.1 aswell as Google Chrome installed.

All it seems to say is

 

Connecting to for a long duration without any success. Has anyone had the thing working if so are there any tips you can give/suggest? Thanks

[idlemarvel]

This may not help you but anyway here goes. I love RM and I use it from my Android tablet but I don't have many good words to say about the RM android handheld implementation. I tried for a long while but the main problem for me is you have to be on the

 

Internet to launch the handheld app, and I don't have Internet access in my shed. I did get it working once (at least I got the layout to appear) but I found it much easier and much more reliable to use VNC to duplicate the laptop screen on my tablet. This

 

can be done using freeware. If you are the only operator then this is a workable solution but if you want to use the handheld connection for another operator then you need the Hornby solution.

[Fishmanoz]

I suggest you email RM Support and see if they can help.

[Grievous1976]

I finally managed to get it connected to the Software running on my laptop after much scouring the lengths of the pdf guides.

Turned out that in the right hand corner where the time is displayed it came up with a table of actions where it told me the

 

Port number, I entered that into the setting on the tablet and hey presto it worked. Only trouble is it says my device is un-registered and that I have to pay an activation fee to register that device.? I rang customer support and they say I must de-activate

 

the railmaster software on my laptop and only use it on my hand held device? Only thing I can think of is that whilst previously owning railmaster since launch when I came to install the e-link cd it didn't ask me to enter activation key. They said they would

 

ring me back with a soltution.

[Fishmanoz]

Grievous, forget about talking to Hornby Customer Care for Railmaster, they know next to nothing. You need to talk to Rsilmaster Support. The easiest way to contact them is via the email button in your RM Help window.

 

Now I'm a little confused

 

about what you have bought, paid for and activated,so let me run through those for you. For a start, both RM itself and the Handheld app come as trial versions. First you need to register and activate RM itself using the activation key that came with your

 

CD. Have you done that? You should now see your activation key shown in the Help window. From here you can also de-activate the software if you ever wish to move it to another computer and use it there.

 

Now the Handheld. It also comes as a trial and

 

you need to purchase an activation code. It should give you the option to do so on line - £10 if I remember rightly. It registers itself against your copy of RM. Once done, the code will also appear in the RM Help window and again has a deactivation option

 

for moving elsewhere.

 

And for all of that, you will need to be connected to the internet.

 

Have you managed all of that now? Again, email RM Support if you have a problem.

[RDS]

@Fishmanoz

I am also a little confused regarding what has been bought but it looked to me that 2 full copies of RailMaster had been bought. One stand alone and the other as part of the e-link package and I am guessing that is why Hornby said they would

 

get back regarding how to proceed because 2 full copies have been bought, whereas only 1 full copy + a Handheld copy are required.

[Fishmanoz]

As he has managed to get something working on the handheld, it must be the handheld app because RM itself won't work on Android, only Windows. He is also talking about Android firmware versions and Google Chrome, all of which are relevant to downloading

 

the app to his tablet.

 

So while I was unsure as to exactly what he is doing, I think my answer covers it for him. And as for HCC getting back to him, they know little more then the very basics and have to go back to RM Support to get any technical

 

answers anyway. Far better to go direct in the first place. There is a recent post by HRMS somewhere that tells about who to get support from for what and HCC is for very basic only.

[Grievous1976]

Hi everone, perhaps I should have been a little clearer in my last post. I currently have installed and Registered on my Laptop Railmaster for the Elite which I have been using since launch. I recently purchased the Elink with Railmaster (R8312) and installed

 

Only the Drivers for the E-link to work with my current version of Railmaster.

My only thought is to de-activate/ unregister the version of railmaster i currently have on my laptop and then proceed to install and register the Version of Railmaster that

 

came with the E-link to access the Full power and capabilities of Railmaster on a hand held device (Hornby CC did say that it shouldn't have asked me to upgrade to register my device)

There was no indication of any additional Fees required to register a

 

handheld device on any part of the box or adverstisement which is a quite misleading to say the least other than the pop-up window that came up once i had my tablet connected.

 

[RDS]

@Grievous1976

Your 1st paragraph confirms what I had assumed was the case, in my reply above.

 

In order to operate RailMaster from a handheld, you need to have the full version running on a PC. The handheld communicates with the PC, via Wi-Fi.

 

You cannot just use a handheld on it's own. Usually people buy a full version of RailMaster for the PC and then purchase a handheld licence (£10 for the first copy then £5 for subsequent licences). Your situation is different in that you have 2 full licences

 

(for PC's) but no handheld licences and my guess is that is why Hornby were going to get back to you with a way forward. There is no advantage to you, to de-activate the PC version.

 

Without knowing the full facts I do not know why you have purchased

 

another copy of RailMaster with the e-link, because your Elite will do everything that e-link can (and more)

 

You can of course use a handheld in demo mode for (I think 60 days) but you are limited to just 2 loco's and a few points.

 

Somehow you

 

need to exchange 1 of your full licences for a handheld version, maybe sell one of your RailMaster copies and buy a handheld licence, because the full licence is worth about 6 times as much as the handheld licence.

[Grievous1976]

@RDS. I see where you are coming from. The reason why I purchased the e-Link was so I could easily walk around my layout without the need to be sat at the main terminal i.e my laptop which by looking at the e-Link deemed a good prospect in having the Railmaster

 

interface in the palm of my hand, granted the Elite has been rather useful and I was thinking of selling that off to fund future purchases such as rolling stock etc. I have emailed RM support telling them the situation, as long as I can have just the 1 licenced

 

Railmaster with the option to use on a Handheld device I would be happy.

My thinking was that with purchasing the e-link I would at least be able to use said handheld device without any extra costs other than if I added a second device which seems only

 

fair.

 

My problem being is that I already have 1 licenced Railmaster installed. Maybe I didn't think too much when making the purchase that it was for New users only.

 

Just to add the e-link came with a copy of railmaster in the box. The decision

 

to purchase the e-Link was ideally to replace the elite in the long run.

Fingers crossed RM Support gets back to me but more than likely it will be after Christmas.

 

 

[RDS]

@Grievous1976

I understand what you mean about selling the Elite but (and this is only a personal preference) I like to be able to take control occasionally using the Elite, whilst RailMaster is running a program.

As I stated in the post above, you

 

will still need your PC to run RailMaster from your registered copy. You will need to purchase a handheld licence for your handheld device. Your handheld device will only ever be a secondary system and cannot replace your Laptop because it is your laptop (or

 

some other windows PC) that communicates with the e-link.

 

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

We are supporting RailMaster and TrackMaster customers throughout the Christmas period, including tomorrow, on Christmas Day.

 

We have not received any email describing the issue you detailed above. Did you actually send it to support@rail-master.com?

 

It is actually better to use the Help Request system built into RailMaster.

 

Your comment about having the eLink in your hand as a walk-about does not make sense. The eLink is a DCC controller interface from your PC to your layout. It has no human-interface

 

control. All control is carried out on your PC.

 

Your Elite will do exactly the same job as the eLink.

 

If you want to add a fully licensed RailMaster HandHeld app then you will need to purchase it from within the program at a cost of £9.99. Your

 

second RailMaster license will not work as a RailMaster HandHeld app license.

 

[Graskie]

What an incredible service over Xmas, HRS!

[Grievous1976]

Hi there, in no way did i make a comment about actually using the e-link controller to walk around my layout with, i was merely making a point that i purchased the e-link/railmaster package so that i could use a handheld device with all capabilities that

 

railmaster has to offer without the need to be sat at my laptop all the time bearing in mind my layout is 20ft by 12ft, 7 circuits with 35 points all connected via point decoders. I understand that the Elite i have at the moment does an identical job that

 

the e-link does BUT there was no indication or warning whatsoever that i had to purchase a separate licence in order to use my Tablet aswell either by The Advertisement in Hornby Magazine or any Paperwork in the box itself.. Just because i have two railmaster

 

discs doesnt mean to say i could use one for my laptop and one for my Tablet. As far as the elite goes it is the most cumbersome piece of kit available hence why i purchased railmaster in the first place besides the fact i could create a running program and

 

trackplan plus the ease of use for writing Cv's. By purchasing the E-link it offered to give me the option to have the railmaster program in the palm of my hand whilst obviously having it running on my laptop for communication and as a back-up.

 

I will

 

be ringing Hornby CC as soon as they re-open for business and also the Retailer i purchased it from for a full refund. To be paying the retail price then an additional £9.99 for the priveledge is ridiculous. In future i would make it clear either by small

 

print an additional fee is required for handheld use. As for any communication i did send two emails to yourselves over the past two days and appreciated your quick response.

 

This really has been the most stressful way of seeking help for a problem

 

i thought would be resolved. My fault for thinking that when i purchased the e-link i could use a handheld device in conjunction with railmaster without additional fees.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Within RailMaster is a feature called "Latest News". When there there is news a message pops up when you start the program. You can read it or choose to cancel the message. You can also read the latest news from within the About screen on RailMaster.

 

Full

 

details are contained in the Latest news regarding how the RailMaster HandHeld app works, where to download it and what it costs. It has been there for around eleven months.

 

You should have seen this on your existing installation of RailMaster when

 

using it with your Elite prior to purchasing the eLink with another copy of RailMaster. Had you known this it would have been unecessary to purchase the RailMaster/eLink pack. Having said that, the size of the layout you have and the number of locos and accessories

 

you could potentially operate on such a layout could make the eLink a useful additional unit, bearing in mind that RailMaster is capable of supporting two DCC controllers, one dedicated to operating your locos and the other your points, signals and other accessories,

 

thus making more power available overall.

 

The RailMaster HandHeld app can be used to control up to two locos and four points and signals for a period, free of charge.

 

[96RAF]

Grievous1976 said:

Hi there, in no way did i make a comment about actually using the e-link controller to walk around my layout with, i was merely making a point that i purchased the e-link/railmaster package so that i could use a handheld

device with all capabilities that railmaster has to offer without the need to be sat at my laptop all the time bearing in mind my layout is 20ft by 12ft, 7 circuits with 35 points all connected via point decoders. I understand that the Elite i have at the

moment does an identical job that the e-link does BUT there was no indication or warning whatsoever that i had to purchase a separate licence in order to use my Tablet aswell either by The Advertisement in Hornby Magazine or any Paperwork in the box itself..

Just because i have two railmaster discs doesnt mean to say i could use one for my laptop and one for my Tablet. As far as the elite goes it is the most cumbersome piece of kit available hence why i purchased railmaster in the first place besides the fact

i could create a running program and trackplan plus the ease of use for writing Cv's. By purchasing the E-link it offered to give me the option to have the railmaster program in the palm of my hand whilst obviously having it running on my laptop for communication

and as a back-up.

I will be ringing Hornby CC as soon as they re-open for business and also the Retailer i purchased it from for a full refund. To be paying the retail price then an additional £9.99 for the priveledge is ridiculous. In future i would

make it clear either by small print an additional fee is required for handheld use. As for any communication i did send two emails to yourselves over the past two days and appreciated your quick response.

This really has been the most stressful way

of seeking help for a problem i thought would be resolved. My fault for thinking that when i purchased the e-link i could use a handheld device in conjunction with railmaster without additional fees.

If you had tried a search of the forums for

handheld devices you would have seen there has been great and lengthy discussion about additional licence fees for handhelds and the benefits of e-Link vs Elite. Sorry but I must agree with and support HRMS that all was in plain sight in the demo versions

before you were obliged to buy.

[Fishmanoz]

Good resolution I would have thought. Instead of paying £85 for an eLink you don't need, you only have to pay £10 for the right thing.

 

And the RM CD does say PC operation with Windows when I look at mine.

[Fizzgig656]

I know this is a very old post, but i agree with OP, that this is not very well publicised, after a bit of research and people recomending the Elink,my parents bought this for my children under the understanding you could setup Elink on a laptop or PC, leave it running and use a tablet to walk about controlling it.

Although its taken a while setting up the new tract for the boys with DCC in mind and converting a number of loco's, Ive also go to the point of adding/trying to control the layout with a tablet to find it needs additional costs to licence the handhelp. Also why has horndby not gone down the route of proper download apps?

Im now thinging of trying a remote control agent/client (like team viewer) instead.

[Chrissaf]

Others here have successfully used 'Team Viewer' instead of the Android APP and found that it resolves the numerous technical issues of using the HandHeld app in the manner Hornby intended.